they picked her up he picked her up by
her throat and her face and he slammed
her on the ground and then he's like get
this little and go take care of
her take care of your daughter
it was another day in the office with
another with another defendant it felt
like there was sort of an audible gasp I
watched a judge do something that I
don't think they do very often so here's
the story of this judge in Oklahoma City
who had a profound moment of conscience
my name is Kenneth Watson I'm a district
judge judge here in Oklahoma County but
the story's part of a much larger story
that our colleague Alex here has been
reporting my name is Alex Campbell and
I'm an investigative reporter at
BuzzFeed so I've been reporting this
story for about six months I've been
looking at cases around the country
where a mother is put in prison for
failing to protect her children even
though she herself was abused the laws
are different in every state and the
penalties are different but basically
the whole idea is that if you knew your
child was being abused and you weren't
able to prevent get the child out of
that situation then you should go to
prison too now how long you'll get put
away will depend a lot state to state in
New York it might be up to a year in
Oklahoma it's up to life so the story
begins with a woman named Victoria
fanfare and Victoria was sent to prison
after her boyfriend killed her
three-year-old daughter even though she
was essentially a victim of her
boyfriend - judge Watson presided over
Victoria's hearing when she agreed to a
plea bargain and even when she entered
the plea of guilty I don't remember
anything about her or about the plea so
I don't hear much about the facts in an
agreed plea and in hers was an agreed
plea there's another day in the office
with another with another defense
in the fall of 2012 Victoria's abusive
boyfriend Freddie Mendez beat Victoria's
three-year-old daughter Alexis to death
so here's a reading from Victoria's
testimony during Freddie's tryout where
she describes the murder Freddie is
still spanking Alexis and I go get my
son and I come back and he's sitting
there and he pushed and he kicked her
across a room all the way to the window
and he kicked her and he is he saying
anything to her he's cussing at himself
he's getting pissed off and he's kicking
her and he's hitting her in the chest
what's he saying he's you little
he's sitting there cussing and
kicking her and hitting her
and I told him he needs to calm down why
doesn't he go outside my son is trying
to look because he can hear Alexis
crying and screaming and he's trying to
look and I'm covering up his eyes and
he's sitting there kicking her and
pushing her around the room and I'm
sitting there yelling at him and he
picks her up after he's hit her in the
chest kicked her in the stomach and
she's swinging around the room across
the window and he picked her up and he
slammed her when he picked her up he
picked her by her throat and her face
and he slammed her on the ground and
then he's like get this little and
go take care of her take care of your
daughter
so when Victoria testified in Freddie's
trial she was already in prison the plea
deal she'd agreed to was for a 35 year
sentence for enabling child abuse when
Victoria testified during frays trial he
caught everybody off guard we have a
girl who's already made a plea she's in
the penitentiary we don't know anything
about her or about the circumstances of
this case and she's probably the first
the second third witness and she gives
us a detailed description of what
happened and how it happened and here's
just one of the many stories Victoria
told about how Freddie had abused her
prior to the incident when Alexis was
killed what happened well he starts we
start getting in the argument and he
starts grabbing me and starts punching
me in my face and punching me in my eye
and he shoves me to the pool and I try
to get out and he shoves me back in the
pool
and starts hitting me and dragging me
around and I'm screaming and crying at
this moment and he tells me to shut up
and finally he gets Alexis and we go
inside the house because the baby is
sleeping ma'am is this the first time
mr. Mendez has put his hands on you in a
manner like this or has it happened
before it's happened before did you tell
anybody about that No why not that was
already in a domestic abusive
relationship and I was embarrassed I
mean there were tears in the in the jury
for the from the members of the jury
because it's heart-wrenching she
continued relating details of this
particular incident so you told us what
he did what happens next well I go
upstairs and we're still arguing and the
kids are in the room and he continues to
hit me and beat me in the room what room
in his bedroom upstairs in the far back
and we're arguing in the closet at this
time I had been shoved all the way up
into the closet because I'm screaming
and crying loud what happens next he
starts punching me and hitting me
telling me to shut up and the need to
manage me to go make him a sandwich and
I'm covered my clothes are wet at this
point so he sends me downstairs to go
make him a sandwich the DA having heard
that I could see he was being affected
by by her testimony we at this point
think we have seen it all but things
things happen which gives you a
different perspective of life and I
think what happened with Victoria and
what had happened with Victoria was
something that neither one of us had
expected this isn't even before the jury
came back I went out and I talked to the
DA and I basically told him that I don't
have any authority to do anything at all
in this case because it's an agreed plea
I said if you can get your office to
agree to let me modify this I will do it
I will set this on my docket to modify
it so the prosecutor agreed and a new
hearing was called where the judge would
be able to change Victoria's sentence to
a length that he thought was more fair I
gave it a lot of thought before I heard
anything additional I knew that
modification was in order because I that
was what I had had suggested I just
didn't know how much and the more I
heard the more I was convinced that she
needed to be out judge Watson modified
Victoria's sentence from 35 years to the
two years she had already served and she
was set free Alex was there for this
hearing it felt like there was sort of
an audible gasp as I recall I watch to
judge do something that I don't think
they do very often which is looking at
an inmate who's been sentenced to 35
years in prison and set her free after
only two I spoke to the district
attorney's office recently and they said
that they were not expecting her to be
set free and that they were under the
impression that she would her sentence
would be reduced to twenty years and
they seemed okay with that I don't think
they were pleased with the judge's
decision what I thought about her
spending the next thirty five years
locked up and all women's prison just
just it just I wanted to know I wanted
to find out what I could do what I could
do to make it better
you